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Responding properly to a changing economy

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
10/07/2012 07:12:52 AM EDT

Companies continue to be risk-averse in their hiring. As a result, we may need to modify the approach to career planning if our tradition of an aggressive, optimistic approach to investment and growth is changing to a more conservative, laid-back, risk-averse attitude. One important clue is the decrease in venture capital available for business startups, a critical component of our local economy.

As a career counselor, it is absolutely imperative that I remain current with what is happening "out there." I am constantly challenged to provide the best advice and to create new tools that give clients an edge. One important example is the growth of online networking.

First, let's look at the big picture. Experts tell us there is a lot of money available for small business startups. That should indicate the beginnings of a new boom with investors rushing in to take advantage of all the inexpensive opportunities.

In the past, that meant substantial job growth, factory and office building construction and expansion, accompanied by rising employment. In our community, however, the unemployment rate remains below the national average and companies are starting to expand hiring, but very slowly. In fact, many never stopped. The problem is we are not seeing growth with the gusto of past disruptions and we are already four years into this one.

In the past, each downturn simply set the stage for the next surge.

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Whatever the difficulty, it seemed as though our optimism, confidence and creativity propelled us forward to greater success. As a community, we met and overcame every challenge. So what is different now?

First, there's outsourcing. Here, the data is mixed. Outsourcing seems to have moderated somewhat but this is too difficult to interpret. What it has not meant is a groundswell of new opportunities. Finding the lowest-cost workforce to sew jeans may make sense, maybe, but seeking the lowest cost to read an X-ray or write software is a totally different matter.

Experts also point out another phenomenon that is a cause for concern with regard to corporate earnings. Too many public companies are still reporting earnings growth where a large component of that growth is attributable to tax cuts and cost savings, not sales growth.

Temp workers fill in until permanent workers are hired or until economic conditions enable normal hiring to recommence. But that has not happened yet. Whole categories of work are being filled by temps as a permanent alternative to hiring, and much of independent contract work has hit a wall.

It seems that more and more businesses have concluded that their permanent workforce should be fixed or reduced "as an ongoing policy," with temps filling immediate needs. Of course, this is also affecting permanent employees who are being called on to fill two and three jobs. Education jobs, from grade school through college, is a clear example.

To be fair, there are also optimistic experts who look at the same information and they draw a different conclusion. However, I would be quite sanguine about this situation if companies were responding in a more traditional manner regarding hiring, interviewing and training. But they are not.

So, what am I seeing and what does it mean? For example, too many firms seem to be more concerned about the risk of hiring the wrong person than finding the right person. The hiring process is much longer, interviews are more intense and frequent, and even then the decision process is filled with delay, delay and delay. As pointed out in this column previously, "chemistry," team conformance and group values are playing a bigger and bigger role in the hiring decision. And, most disturbingly, too many companies seem to be still interviewing without actually hiring because of uncertainty.

It seems companies with good intentions simply are subject to inertia when faced with taking the final step. Bringing on a permanent employee is a major step and employee ramp-up times are very short. New employees have to start producing immediately.

The impact on job seekers is enormous. The length of the job-hunt increases, demanding a renewed commitment to continue searching, and increasing the need for more encouragement and more stamina. All these factors contribute to increased anxiety and genuine concern about self-worth.

The point is the sources of strength in the economy, employment opportunities and the hiring process itself strongly suggest that hiring patterns that preceded this downturn are accelerating. If this is true, the whole notion of career needs to be re-examined.

This column has long preached the idea we contract our skills to those who need them, and then move on. We discussed the idea of personal branding, lifelong learning, continuous and ongoing networking and the essentials of professional development as a requirement for continuous employment. However, we may be faced with new challenges that call for new tools and more "career resilience," an idea that brings new challenges in career planning.

Judit Price is a masters-level career guidance counselor, certified career master, international job transition coach and a career development facilitator. She is also a principal at Berke and Price Associates, Skills for Career Services, in Chelmsford. Contact her at jprice@careercampaign.com.

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